


Lunar Eclipse

by malcolmn666



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, For some reason Zuko and Katara are separated from everyone and not at the siege of the north, Gen, Season 1, implied yue death but katara has no idea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 05:22:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26467888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/malcolmn666/pseuds/malcolmn666
Summary: short nonsense from what could maybe be a zutara au one dayZuko and Katara are separated from his Uncle and the Gaang in Season 1. They never made it to the North Pole, and have temporarily banded together. Katara wakes up in the middle of the night, and makes a discovery
Relationships: Katara & Zuko (Avatar)
Kudos: 29





	Lunar Eclipse

**Author's Note:**

> zuko swears once

Katara woke up gasping, and it was enough for Zuko to stir a few feet away.

“What’s going on—what—” he mumbled under his breath, sleepily reaching for his swords. Katara shook.

“I—I don’t know—” She didn’t know how to explain the horrible emptiness that had jarred her awake. A pain, deep and cold, and had rapidly overtaken her body all at once, but now it faded away, as if she were chasing a dream.

Zuko scanned the area, suddenly having forced himself to his feet. She heard him unsheathe the swords while she bent her head into her knees, trying to calm her heart.

“I think it was just a nightmare,” she said. When she didn’t hear him sit down, she looked up. “Forget it.”

“I’m not going to risk another _fucking_ ambush,” he countered. “Who’s there?”

No one answered.

“ _Zuko—_ ”

“Show yourself, coward!”

Whatever remained of Katara’s brief terror melted away to irritation. She groaned, standing, reaching for her waterskin—

And her heart plummeted.

She reached and pulled and waved and— _nothing_.

“Zuko,” she whispered, and he glanced back at her in tired confusion. “I can’t waterbend.”

He stared. “What?”

“I—look!” She demonstrated her usual pull of the water out of its container several times while nothing happened. “I can’t _feel_ it!”

He blinked slowly before grasping his swords in one hand and dumbly staring at the other. A small flame flickered into existence, illuminating his face.

Katara tried again several more times before kneeling in the middle of the clearing, trying to keep herself from unraveling; Zuko shuffled around a bit, and finally Katara heard the sound of him sheathing his swords.

“It’s just a lunar eclipse,” he said, and her heart skipped a beat. “Solar eclipses do the same to firebenders.”

“Just...?”

“It won’t last long,” he pressed on, his voice still gruff and tired, but strangely reassuring. “Remember? It was a full moon tonight. Now you can’t see it anywhere.”

“Oh.” She wiped her eyes furiously. “Where did it go?”

He sighed, fumbling around on the ground near her as he tried to stake out his sleeping spot again. “It’s still up there. The earth’s between the moon and the sun, so the moon can’t reflect any light. So we can’t see it.”

“Oh.”

He laid flat on his back, his swords set between them. Gradually, Katara let herself lay down again, curled toward him.

She fell asleep only to wake up again to the moon’s light flooding the clearing from above. Zuko snored softly to her right, curled on his side.

Relief sent her to sleep a final time before the sun rose.


End file.
